The present invention generally relates to tools used in the creation of faux paint finishes and more particularly to a patterned synthetic sponge that mimics natural sea sponge in the creation of faux paint finishes.
Broken pattern surface-coatings were popular in the 1930's. They were produced by techniques known as "ragging on" and "sponging" and which involved a rag or sponge that was used to disturb a freshly painted wall to produce a broken pattern. Considerable skill was required to produce an aesthetically pleasing affect.
Today, such specialty finishes can involve more than one color of paint in order to create a look that otherwise is only available from expensive wall coverings. One such technique involves the application of a base coat of one paint and the selective application of a different color top coat that can be applied by rag or sponge rolling. Alternatively, a top coat can be applied over a dried base coat and some of the top coat removed with a rag, sponge, cheese cloth, or other tool to create the specialty finish desired. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,930,179 and 5,206,979 are examples thereof. In fact, it even has been proposed to use a bifurcated roller to apply two different colors at the same time in U.S. Pat. No. 5,713,095. A rag wrapped around a tube is another tool proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,471,703.
In reality, many of these tools were designed to take the place of scarce and expensive natural sea sponges that provide the most pleasing specialty faux finishes. Despite these designs, however, there still is a need to create a synthetic sponge that would mimic a natural sea sponge in its ability to create faux paint finishes.